(1) A device driver is software that helps a peripheral device establish communication with a computer. This type of software is used by printers, monitors, graphics cards, sound cards, and modems. Once installed, a device driver usually runs in the background without opening a window on the screen. Suppose you connect a new printer to your computer. You might also have to install a printer driver or select a preinstalled driver. After the device driver is installed, it runs in the background to send data to the printer whenever you begin a print job. (2) On a Mac, you can click the Apple icon, select About this Mac, and then select More Info to look at a list of devices connected to your computer. By selecting a device, you can view information about it, including the driver version number. It’s always important to remain up-to-date, so check the manufacturer’s website to make sure that your version is current. On a PC, if you need to update a device driver or change its settings. you can usually access the driver by using the Start menu’s Control Panel option and opening the System icon. Then use the Device Manager option to view a list of your computer system hardware and corresponding device drivers.
The main idea of the passage is to explain how